The content of a site, bringing it to life, enriching it is a real full-time job. It's work; clearly. The blog of a commercial site like mine is often used only to improve its referencing in search engines, it is a fact.
However, and as a result, I find that commercial site blogs have purely content oriented and intended to improve their SEO in their field and do not really have other motivations: flat lists of names of minerals and gems with info sometimes erroneous, copy-paste from other sites etc...
When you type the name of a mineral or gem today, the search engine will systematically offer you well-being and esoteric oriented sites with an accumulation of virtues and different therapeutic properties for each of the minerals and gems listed. These sites, for the most part, are very rich in information but without flavor and without scientific reference.
If you type "amethyst" into a search engine:
I have absolutely no problem with the belief that minerals and gems would help meditation, well-being etc... and my current reflection is not intended to incriminate this belief. However, I want to clarify that I have no sensitivity towards this belief and that I feel absolutely nothing biological when I place a stone on any part of my body other than the fascination and beauty it gives me.
On the other hand, what causes me more problems is that the Internet, via very elaborate sales sites from a referencing point of view, will systematically affix to a natural mineral object a belief, a virtue or a benefit for purely commercial. And I think it's unique in the business of natural materials! I had fun typing tulip on a search engine, a plant appreciated for its decorative beauty like minerals: none of the sites listed will refer to any belief... biology, medicine, gardening advice etc... no virtue, no power.
If you type "tulip" in a search engine:
The market for minerals intended for the general public is extremely deeply biased in France, probably more so than in Belgium or Germany, countries where I go regularly. And I often see merchants playing the game of esotericism without conviction, labeling their stones with smoky information to boost their sales, but how can you blame them? The market for gems and minerals is tough, paying the bills in this area is not always easy. But now, today, the general public only sees minerals through the prism of belief and I regret it. It sometimes happens to me at gem shows that people doubt my knowledge of gemstones because I don't know this or that virtue of a stone, it's really frustrating and annoying!
This article is an aside in this blog, a one-off reflection on the minerals market. But I want this blog to reflect my vision and my love of gems without necessarily having a commercial aim. Just a desire to share my passion for gems and to share my discoveries with you when time permits.
Thanks for reading me
Immanuel